Stirring from the haze of winter, this refreshing unfiltered White Ale awakens its smooth wheat with the bright snap of spring spices. From the subtle sweetness of orange peel and plum to the peppery bite of fresh ground coriander, the blend of spices creates just the right refreshing kick to signal that spring is on its way.

Reviews by M1A2:

More User Reviews:

355ml bottle. Given that it's not just been we up here in the Great White North who've had to deal with the eponymous weather conditions these past few months, this is a pithy reminder of hopefully bygone days, at least for another year.

This beer pours a rather cloudy, medium tarnished golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, tightly foamy, and eventually creamy dirty white head, which leaves some nice random exploding snow bank lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of that particular blend of semi-sweet fruity orange flesh and muted coriander spice, lightly bready wheat malt, and further lemon and grassy hop notes. The taste is quite in line with the aroma - the spice and fruit lead things off, as the orange gets a bit musty, and the coriander holds firm - with a visit from some faintly spicy white ginger - a nicely even, lightly toasted caramel and wheat malt, fading lemon pie esters, and mild leafy, grassy hops.

The carbonation is genuinely soft and innocuous, the body a decent medium weight for the style, and unaffectedly smooth, with some ethereal hints of creaminess. It finishes off-dry, the muddled citrus fruitiness and dulled spiciness blending well enough with the lingering bready, wheat grain sweetness.

A decent enough version of a witbier, sort of faded around the edges, but the meat of the matter is still intact. Which is all fine and good, but this is certainly a warm(er) weather offering, so I'm thinking there's something lost in translation here - up here, a 'cold snap' is a prolonged period of sub-zero temps - I'm guessing that BBC assumes a different stress, as in 'a snap to the existing cold' i.e. springtime, y'all.

Aaah, before the grip of cold weather, winter has its grip-its bracing bone chilling rigidness is broken up by the common richness of porters, stouts and barleywines. These beers warm those bones well during the hibernating sense of winter. But then a Cold Snap happens and teases us with the notion that warmer weather is just around the corner.

As the snow starts to melt, Samuel Adams delivers a beer that pours with a golden-amber hue. Bright in its appearance, the ale pours with a vibrantly carbonated demeanor which fuels a stark-white head of arid structure. Long in its retention, the ale laces with certain randomness.

Its aromas are sweet with supple caramel, honey and fruit- its melange is herbal and somewhat of fresh-hung tobacco. Plumb, dates, marmalade, and figs are light in the backdrop, but with the light nutty and steely caramel playing behind, the ale offers as much of an earthy scent as it is zesty.

To taste, the beer's brightness shines. There's just enough sweetness and graininess to give the beer a malty grit to allow its beginnings to jump right out. Yet what follows its the citrusy and spicy underpinnings which breath life into the ale. Finishing with a bready aftetaste, those fruit, floral and spice flavors trail in echoes.

Its light and grainy body is creamy to start but quickly fall apart because of its scrubbing mineral and grain qualities. Crystal-clean in its delivery, that also becomes the beer's problem. It's so clean that it reveals the grain flavor and texture to limit its enjoyment. It also highlights is plaster-like taste and texture to much the same malaise.

12 oz bottle, poured into a tulip glass at approximately 40 degrees F.

A: Pours an orange-tinted gold so cloudy that one cannot even see the shadow of their fingers on the other side of the glass. Forms a thin, short-lived pale head which becomes a ring rather quickly.

S: The aroma is reminiscent of a spiced, mulled orange juice, with heavy citrus notes shot through with coriander and herbal spiciness. There's a very faint touch of funk as well, as though that orange juice were a bit past its expiration date.

T: Sour, tart citrus rolls through the palate with this beer, a mix of orange and grapefruit, both more sour than sweet as if a shade underripe. There's a heavy dose of coriander as well, staying solidly level from opening to finish, and a faint aura of funk drifting by in the background. As the beer warms, the taste profile remains the same, oddly enough.

M: Light, lively, and inviting to drink quickly, this is a refreshing wheat beer.

O: Not a bad take on a witbier, if a bit less complex than I'd prefer.